Celebrity Tennis Day raises $13k for Diabetes NSW

16 celebrities at The Opening Ceremony

The weather was ‘problematic’ to say the least on Sunday 7th Feb. Four courts were still under water at 7:30 on the morning of the event – the inaugural NSW Corporate Games Celebrity Tennis Day, organised by Double Drummer.

Players were flying in from Brisbane and Adelaide. Jockey Allan ‘Robbo’ Robinson was driving down from Newcastle and his partner who’d won an auction to play with him was driving up from Nowra. We had to make the call at 8am and with a last look at the satellite pictures online, made the decision to go ahead.

Amazingly, a few very light showers aside, the rain held off right up until the Final at 2:30pm. It was a great day with all 16 celebrities and their tournament partners turning up… and given the competitive natures of the many elite athletes involved, there were some torrid matches played in the round robin stage of the Celebrity Fan Tournament. Left-handed former World Ironman Champion Guy Leech still loves to compete and sent down some absolute bombs. Former leading NRL point-scorer (and most recently, Head Coach at The Rabbitohs) Jason Taylor threw himself around the court like you wouldn’t believe, at one point playing a shot while lying on the ground!

A free-flowing forehand from surfing Champ. Layne Beachley

Layne Beachley didn’t win seven World Titles without being just a tad competitive… AND she can play (as evidenced by this forehand full of grace and style). The atmosphere was great with Nickleodeon’s Active Kidz providing entertainment for the little ones, sponsor Crazy John’s mascot roaming the club, sparring with Barnaby Bee (the Diabetes mascot) to the delight of the crowd of around 200 who braved the inclement weather.

The State Member for Willoughby, Gladys Berejiklian MP officially opened the event, while The Mayor of Willoughby and 5 of his fellow Councillors attended, as did both the President and CEO of Tennis NSW.

The BBQ did a roaring trade, Fuzzy Ball Wines conducted a tasting of beautiful blends from Cuttaway Estate and M.C. Simon Westaway kept up a brilliant running commentary for 5 hours straight! (The man is indefatigable.)

The celebrities came in various shapes and sizes… from Melbourne Cup winning jockey Corey Brown and the aforementioned Robbo (who were at each other with good-natured banter all day) to netball icon Liz Ellis, Golden Girl Kerri Pottharst and the current World 5th ranked beach volleyball team from the U.S., Angie Akers and Tyra Turner… all of these girls top the six foot mark on the old scale.

Simon Westaway interviews Lindy Olsen

And talking about shapes, there was none more shapely than Three Time Ms World   Figure Shaping Champion, Lindy Olsen (who’s just as lovely on the inside as on the out). Although Lindy didn’t have it all her own way in the ‘glamour stakes’, with former World No. 2 Triathlete Nici Andronicus still stunning (and extremely fit!) and former swimmer, now Channel 9 sports presenter Stephanie Brantz lighting up the Tennis Valley club in a bright orange outfit.

But enough about the good sorts, all these guys were also great sports! They gave up their Sunday to raise money for Diabetes Australia-NSW and had a heap of fun in the process.

Sharks great David Peachey played with a young guy named Mitch Arrow. Mitch is not only a huge Cronulla fan, he was a footie player himself until he broke his neck in an Under 20s game last year. He’s lucky… he didn’t end up in a wheelchair; but he can never play footie again.

Peach with doubles partner Mitch Arrow

However the chance to play with one of his heroes put a huge smile on his face all day. And it was topped off when Peach presented him with an autographed Sharks shirt, organised especially by NRL boss David Gallop (thanks David). This was one of many wonderful moments in a great day.

Trevor Chappell had rung a mate and told him he needed to borrow his tennis-playing daughter for the day… “and it will cost you about $500″. No problem.

Socceroo great Mark Bosnich filled in at very short notice when one of our stars became ill and had to withdraw. He was tremendous and his match against Kerri Pottharst was one of the highlights of the day. Fellow Fox Sport s football commentator Simon Hill shifted his return flight from Adelaide to the 5am ‘redeye’ to make the start of the event and was still competitive in every match.

In the end, not only was tennis the winner, but so was Diabetes Australia-NSW when funds raised tallied over $13,000. For the record, Liz Ellis and her partner from Tennis Valley James Rowland, defeated Jason Taylor and his partner Nathan Lowe from the Cleland club in Artarmon in a nail-biting Final that came down to a sudden death tiebreaker. Layne Beachley and David Peachey teamed up to defeat Corey Brown and Stephanie Brantz in the consolation All Star Showdown.

Jason Taylor congratulates Liz Ellis on her victory.

A HUGE thank you from Double Drummer to each and every celebrity who put their hand up to participate (and to those who genuinely wanted to but were unable to due to other commitments). Thanks too to sponsors GraysOnline, Crazy John’s, The Good Guys Chatswood, NAB North Shore and Star City… and to the many businesses that donated auction and raffle items.

Just a brilliant day all round… and the feedback has been amazing. Each and every celebrity has already volunteered to be involved in ‘next year’s event’!

(Now if we can just find someone to organise it.)